Daw Suu in her office before her house arrest

The National League for Democracy is the main pro-democracy political party in Burma, founded on 27 September 1988. It was first founded by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, U Tin Oo and U Aung Gyi; later U Aung Gyi split up and formed a new party of his own. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, before her house arrest, acted as General Secretary.

In the 1990 parliamentary elections, the party won 392 out of 492 seats, but the ruling military junta did not let the party form a government.

Soon after the election, the party was repressed by military junta; a large number of elected representatives were put in jail, some died under ill-treatment in jail, some forced to give up their constituency seats and some even forced to resign from the party. Some other elected representatives escaped arrest by fleeing abroad, and they became exile activists.

The NLD is distinct from the NLD-LA (National League for Democracy-Liberated Areas), which operates in the Thai-Burma border areas and abroad. However, the NLD-LA advocates the position of the NLD in calling for a tripartite dialogue between the SPDC, the NLD, and representatives of the ethnic minority groups of Burma.

Currently, NLD office are shut down and members’ activities heavily restricted since 2003 Depayin massacre, when about 500 followers of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from NLD party were brutally beaten to death by hired thugs and plain-clothed soldiers during a public rally of the NLD party in Depayin township in central Burma. Despite hardship and oppressions by junta, NLD members are still trying their best to show their support to their detained leader whenever they get a chance.

Daw Suu 62nd birthday celebrated by her followers in front of her party office in Burma

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, NLD general secretary, Burmese people's legitimate leader and 1991 Nobel Peace Laureate, remains under house arrest. She is the only Nobel Peace Laureate in detention in the world today.